Overheard (film)
Encyclopedia
Overheard is a 2009
Hong Kong
crime
thriller film
written and directed by Alan Mak
and Felix Chong
, and produced by Henry Fong and Derek Yee
. The film stars Lau Ching-Wan, Louis Koo
and Daniel Wu
as a trio of police officers conducting surveillance on a public company
. The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 30 July 2009.
attracts not only money but any who try to manipulate the market. At the Hong Kong Police Force Commercial Crime Bureau, an operation is underway to infiltrate a trading company, Feng Hua International where a man, nicknamed “Boss” is the chief suspect.
The team of Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CIB) officers , led by Inspector Leung (Lau Ching Wan) together with Yeung (Louis Koo) and Lam (Daniel Wu), installs interception devices to monitor the company’s communications. Yeung is a family man, has a wife, a daughter, and a son who is suffering from a serious illness and needs constant attention, while Lam, a young new comer to the team, is to be married to the daughter of a wealthy man. Leung is a calm experienced officer who is having an affair with Mandy (Zhang Jingchu) who happens to be the wife of his friend Lee (Alex Fong).
One night, while monitoring a conversation between the company's manager and his secretary, Yeung and Lam overhear that the stock price will surge on market opening the next day. Seeing an opportunity, Yeung asks Lam to delete the portion of the recording so he can take advantage of it. The next day, Lam opened an account at a stock brokerage house but was discovered by Leung. However, Lam has already invested in the stock on a deep loan. The stock rose quickly, but before the trio manages to sell it, trading was suspended due to unusual trading activity.
Back in the operation center, the three of them overhear a plot of murder to the manager using a listening device planted unofficially. To report the intelligence would lead them to suspicion, and ruin their future, and Lam begs Leung not to report it. Having thought about it, Leung decides instead to stop the murder themselves. They ambush the murderer as he force-feeds the unconscious manager with pills to fake a death scene.
Leung's face, however, was briefly seen by the manager's girlfriend, and this allows the "Boss" to track them down, seeking retribution, and organize the deaths of the Leung, Lam, Yeung, and his family. Because of Leung's compassion for his subordinates mistakes, and unwillingness to turn them in and seek help from the rest of the police force, he was unable to stop their unnecessary deaths.
and Felix Chong
, the writers behind the Infernal Affairs
trilogy. The film was produced by Sil-Metropole Organisation and Pop Movies, the production company behind Chong and Mak's previous film Lady Cop & Papa Crook
. The film was produced by Derek Yee
, who previously worked with the film's lead actors Lau Ching-Wan, Louis Koo
and Daniel Wu
. Yee has described the film as an "ensemble film
", since it was hard to get all three actors to work together on one film. Before filming began, Daniel Wu held a party at his home with the rest of the lead actors, so they could establish their on-screen chemistry beforehand.
The film also marks the ninth collaboration between actors Lau Ching-Wan and Louis Koo. When the directors first approached him with the screenplay, Koo thought that they were playing a trick on him, since his character was much older than Lau's character. To prepare for the role, he had to apply makeup, gain 30 pounds and get a new hairstyle.
An integral part of the movie is the use of headphones, amongst other listening equipment: 2 seen are the Audio-Technica
ATH-PRO700 and the TDK
ST-PR300.
29th Hong Kong Film Awards
began production and tentatively release in 2011.
Hong Kong films of 2009
A list of films produced in Hong Kong in 2009:.-2009:-External links:* * Hong Kong films of 2009 at...
Hong Kong
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
crime
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
thriller film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
written and directed by Alan Mak
Alan Mak
Alan Mak Siu-Fai , born on 1 January 1968 in Hong Kong, is a writer, director, actor and producer.-Biography:In 1986, Mak studied at the School of Drama in the Hong Kong Academy for Performance Arts. Upon graduation in 1990, he started his movie career....
and Felix Chong
Felix Chong
Felix Chong Man-Keung is a Hong Kong screenwriter, film director and actor.He is one of the most celebrated screenwriters in Hong Kong and has won several prestigious awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards...
, and produced by Henry Fong and Derek Yee
Derek Yee
Derek Yee Tung-sing , born in 1957, is a former Shaw Brothers actor from Hong Kong, currently a film director and screenwriter, who has achieved fame and respect in Hong Kong and international film festival circuits for treading carefully commercial viability concerns with artistic integrity...
. The film stars Lau Ching-Wan, Louis Koo
Louis Koo
Louis Koo is a Hong Kong actor. He was once a notable local television series actor, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 for Detective Investigation Files IV. In recent years, he has focused on film...
and Daniel Wu
Daniel Wu
Daniel Yin-Cho Wu is a Hong Kong actor, director and producer. Since his film debut in 1998, he has been featured in over 40 films. Wu has been called "the young Andy Lau," and is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese-language film industry.-Early life:Wu was born in...
as a trio of police officers conducting surveillance on a public company
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
. The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 30 July 2009.
Plot
A major stock exchange in the world, Hong KongHong Kong Stock Exchange
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Hong Kong. It is Asia's third largest stock exchange in terms of market capitalization behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange and fifth largest in the world...
attracts not only money but any who try to manipulate the market. At the Hong Kong Police Force Commercial Crime Bureau, an operation is underway to infiltrate a trading company, Feng Hua International where a man, nicknamed “Boss” is the chief suspect.
The team of Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CIB) officers , led by Inspector Leung (Lau Ching Wan) together with Yeung (Louis Koo) and Lam (Daniel Wu), installs interception devices to monitor the company’s communications. Yeung is a family man, has a wife, a daughter, and a son who is suffering from a serious illness and needs constant attention, while Lam, a young new comer to the team, is to be married to the daughter of a wealthy man. Leung is a calm experienced officer who is having an affair with Mandy (Zhang Jingchu) who happens to be the wife of his friend Lee (Alex Fong).
One night, while monitoring a conversation between the company's manager and his secretary, Yeung and Lam overhear that the stock price will surge on market opening the next day. Seeing an opportunity, Yeung asks Lam to delete the portion of the recording so he can take advantage of it. The next day, Lam opened an account at a stock brokerage house but was discovered by Leung. However, Lam has already invested in the stock on a deep loan. The stock rose quickly, but before the trio manages to sell it, trading was suspended due to unusual trading activity.
Back in the operation center, the three of them overhear a plot of murder to the manager using a listening device planted unofficially. To report the intelligence would lead them to suspicion, and ruin their future, and Lam begs Leung not to report it. Having thought about it, Leung decides instead to stop the murder themselves. They ambush the murderer as he force-feeds the unconscious manager with pills to fake a death scene.
Leung's face, however, was briefly seen by the manager's girlfriend, and this allows the "Boss" to track them down, seeking retribution, and organize the deaths of the Leung, Lam, Yeung, and his family. Because of Leung's compassion for his subordinates mistakes, and unwillingness to turn them in and seek help from the rest of the police force, he was unable to stop their unnecessary deaths.
Cast
- Lau Ching-Wan as Johnny Leung
- Louis KooLouis KooLouis Koo is a Hong Kong actor. He was once a notable local television series actor, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 for Detective Investigation Files IV. In recent years, he has focused on film...
as Gene Yeung - Daniel WuDaniel WuDaniel Yin-Cho Wu is a Hong Kong actor, director and producer. Since his film debut in 1998, he has been featured in over 40 films. Wu has been called "the young Andy Lau," and is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese-language film industry.-Early life:Wu was born in...
as Max Lam - Zhang JingchuZhang JingchuZhang Jingchu is a Chinese film actress. She graduated in Directing at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing.Zhang was brought up in a middle-working class family in the countryside...
as Mandy Yam - Alex Fong Chung-SunAlex Fong Chung-SunAlex Fong Chung-Sun is an actor in the Hong Kong TV and film industry. He was born on March 17, 1963 in Macau.-Films:*2011 Overheard 2*2011 The Founding of a Party*2011 The Lost Bladesman*2010 Love Is The Last Word...
as Kelvin Lee - Lam Ka-WahDominic LamDominic Lam Ka-Wah is an actor in Hong Kong, and a disc jockey in both Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario.-Early Life in Hong Kong:...
as Frankie Wong - Waise LeeWaise LeeWaise Lee Chi-hung is a Hong Kong film and television actor best known for playing the roles of villains and antagonists in various films.-Biography:...
as Ringo Low - Michael WongMichael Wong (actor)Michael Fitzgerald Wong aka Wong Man-Tak is a Chinese-American and a Hong Kong based actor, director, singer and producer.He is fluent in English, but not so in Chinese, which is reflected in many of the characters he has portrayed. His most notable film is the 1998 film Beast Cops which won a...
as Willie Ma
Production
Overheard was written and directed by Alan MakAlan Mak
Alan Mak Siu-Fai , born on 1 January 1968 in Hong Kong, is a writer, director, actor and producer.-Biography:In 1986, Mak studied at the School of Drama in the Hong Kong Academy for Performance Arts. Upon graduation in 1990, he started his movie career....
and Felix Chong
Felix Chong
Felix Chong Man-Keung is a Hong Kong screenwriter, film director and actor.He is one of the most celebrated screenwriters in Hong Kong and has won several prestigious awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards...
, the writers behind the Infernal Affairs
Infernal Affairs
Infernal Affairs is a 2002 Hong Kong crime-thriller film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. It tells the story of a police officer who infiltrates the triads, and a police officer secretly working for the same gang. The Chinese title means "the non-stop path", a reference to Avici, the lowest...
trilogy. The film was produced by Sil-Metropole Organisation and Pop Movies, the production company behind Chong and Mak's previous film Lady Cop & Papa Crook
Lady Cop & Papa Crook
Lady Cop & Papa Crook is a 2009 Hong Kong crime film written and directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong, and starring Sammi Cheng and Eason Chan...
. The film was produced by Derek Yee
Derek Yee
Derek Yee Tung-sing , born in 1957, is a former Shaw Brothers actor from Hong Kong, currently a film director and screenwriter, who has achieved fame and respect in Hong Kong and international film festival circuits for treading carefully commercial viability concerns with artistic integrity...
, who previously worked with the film's lead actors Lau Ching-Wan, Louis Koo
Louis Koo
Louis Koo is a Hong Kong actor. He was once a notable local television series actor, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 for Detective Investigation Files IV. In recent years, he has focused on film...
and Daniel Wu
Daniel Wu
Daniel Yin-Cho Wu is a Hong Kong actor, director and producer. Since his film debut in 1998, he has been featured in over 40 films. Wu has been called "the young Andy Lau," and is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese-language film industry.-Early life:Wu was born in...
. Yee has described the film as an "ensemble film
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
", since it was hard to get all three actors to work together on one film. Before filming began, Daniel Wu held a party at his home with the rest of the lead actors, so they could establish their on-screen chemistry beforehand.
The film also marks the ninth collaboration between actors Lau Ching-Wan and Louis Koo. When the directors first approached him with the screenplay, Koo thought that they were playing a trick on him, since his character was much older than Lau's character. To prepare for the role, he had to apply makeup, gain 30 pounds and get a new hairstyle.
An integral part of the movie is the use of headphones, amongst other listening equipment: 2 seen are the Audio-Technica
Audio-Technica
, established in 1962 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a company that designs and manufactures professional wired and wireless microphones, headphones, phonographic magnetic cartridges, and other audio equipment. One of their most famous products was a battery-operated, portable record player...
ATH-PRO700 and the TDK
TDK
, formerly , is a Japanese company which manufactures electronic materials, electronic components, and recording and data-storage media, and markets them globally. Their motto is "Contribute to culture and industry through creativity"...
ST-PR300.
Marketing
The film's teaser poster shows a severed ear on a mouse trap. According to directors Alan Mak and Felix Chong, the imagery of the poster was to convey the darkness that the human soul is capable of.Awards and nominations
16th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award- Won: Best Director (Alan Mak and Felix Chong)
- Film of Merit
29th Hong Kong Film Awards
29th Hong Kong Film Awards
Ceremony for the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards took place on 18 April 2010 . Here are the nominees listed taken from the official website.Wang Po Chieh's original nomination for the Best New Performer was withdrawn after he was confirmed to be an actor in the 2008 Taiwan film Winds of September...
- Nominated: Best Film
- Nominated: Best Director (Alan Mak and Felix Chong)
- Nominated: Best Screenplay (Alan Mak and Felix Chong)
- Nominated: Best Actor (Lau Ching-Wan)
- Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Alex Fong)
- Won: Best Film Editing (Kong Chi Leung and Chan Chi Wai)
Sequel
Due to the film's great success, the sequel Overheard 2Overheard 2
Overheard 2 is a 2011 Hong Kong crime thriller film produced by Derek Yee, written and directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong and starring Louis Koo, Lau Ching Wan and Daniel Wu...
began production and tentatively release in 2011.